Author Summer Owens Shares Her Grandmas’ Wisdom and Advice in New Book
Author and motivational speaker Summer Owens stopped by the Bolivar-Hardeman County Library on Monday, June 17, 2024, for a book signing to share her recently published book, 100 Lessons My Centenarian Grandmas Taught Me: Two Centuries of Motherly Wisdom and Timeless Advice on Confidence, Resilience, Leadership, and Life, that was released May 2024. The last time Ms. Owens was in Bolivar at the library for a book signing was in 2010 just after her first book, Life After Birth: A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother, was released.
100 Lessons My Centenarian Grandmas Taught Me: Two Centuries of Motherly Wisdom and Timeless Advice on Confidence, Resilience, Leadership, and Life is a compilation of life lessons – wisdom and advice – shared with Ms. Owens by her grandmothers, Ocie Lee (Woods) Williams, whom she affectionately called Grandma Ocie, and Agnes “Dorothy” (Jones) Owens, whom she lovingly called Grandma. Some of the lessons include Cherish Your Uniqueness (les. 6), Stand By Your Decision (les. 23), Focus on What You Can Control (les. 41), and Be a Lifelong Learner (les. 87). Each lesson includes five action items to help the reader put into practice what they learned.
“I was really close to my grandmothers. I recognize how special and unique that was for me. I was blessed to know them both and I had close relationships with both of them. I am them. I am very much my grandmothers,” said Ms. Owens, who shared on March 19, 2024, she received a call from Jackson, Tennessee, that Grandma [Owens] was declining, and the doctors were not sure how much more time she had. “During that time, I got the call about Grandma Ocie who lived in Bolivar [also declining].”
Summer Owens brand is S.O. What!, a phrase she has promoted for years teaching people how to overcome obstacles.
“I teach about being resilient. How do you move forward from an experience? How do you turn something negative into something positive? Even the worst negative thing, how can you turn it into something positive? This is my time to take my own medicine and practice what I preach. I got the idea to write a book while they were transitioning,” said Ms. Owens, who wrote the book in less than 30 days, surprising even herself.
Grandma Ocie passed away at the age of 97 on March 29, 2024, and Grandma passed away at the age of 102 on April 3, 2024; just five days apart from each other, leaving Ms. Owens heartbroken.
“Taking the time and energy in writing the book helped me to reflect on the positive things and the memories. I am supposed to do something with all I have learned from them,” said Ms. Owens. “Just looking at the pictures reminds me they are gone, but I had what most people never had and so it brings me a lot of joy remembering what I had and this book keeps them alive.”
Ms. Owens has created curriculum for 100 Lessons My Centenarian Grandmas Taught Me: Two Centuries of Motherly Wisdom and Timeless Advice on Confidence, Resilience, Leadership, and Life After Birth: A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother.
“With every book I write and every story that I tell, it is not just to tell a story. It is to give a lesson for people to learn something they can apply to their own lives.” said Summer Owens.
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